Lee Jaffe on mon 10 jul 00
>sitting and doing a series of one shape then throwing it all but
>the best one in the recycle bin
I think I may have come off a little precious in my previous note. I really
appreciate the luxury I have in doing pottery not as a livelihood. I don't
have to watch the bottom line, don't have creditors or customers to consider,
and can easily afford to take long elliptical paths in approaching my work.
Even then, I don't keep only the one best piece and dump the others. As much
as I try to focus on the process and not the product, I'm too vain and
practical to toss the merely acceptable pieces. I do dispose of some work
through sales at the studio I use (net income less than $200 a year) but
otherwise most of what I make comes home, goes to friends, or is donated
to charity. If the piece I'm working on doesn't look better than what I
already have at home, I feel challenged to push it further and I'm not
completely distraught if I wreck it in the process. If the end result is
still disappointing, I scrap it and reuse the clay. I have enough ugly pots
at home already. I still go home with a lot of work that is slightly below
museum quality. The best pieces are "keepers" and stay on the mantle
until they are replaced by something even better. Pieces I could never
imagine parting with 2-3 years ago are now in the shed waiting for the
next sale.
Like I said, I realize that I'm in a pretty cushy situation. I admire and
envy working potters, but I knew from an early point that I didn't want
to make my living from clay. Part of it is temperment. I'd make a terrible
small businessman. In part, it is also that I have an established career in
a profession I care about already. But mostly, I maintain my amateur
status in order to protect pottery as a haven. It feels so important to
me to have something that I love to do for its own sake.
When I first started studying pottery, one of the other students was
obviously very skilled already. Turns out that she'd been a working potter.
She'd studied in college, interned with other potters, taught, and finally
went out on her own as a studio potter. After struggling for years, going
to fairs, entering shows, trying to get her work into shops and galleries,
she struck the motherlode. A major retailer gave her an order for 1000
pieces. She spent the next 3 months working 14 hour days, 7 days a week.
She didn't see friends, go to movies, read a book that whole time. She
finished her order on time, closed her studio, and joined the family insurance
business. It took her several years before she would work with clay again.
She said, "Success was the worst thing that ever happened to me." From
that point on, I've kept in mind that love of clay doesn't not have to be
expressed through a career.
-- Lee Jaffe
Hank Murrow on tue 11 jul 00
SNIP__I really appreciate the luxury I have in doing pottery not as
a livelihood. I don't have to >watch the bottom line, don't have creditors
or customers to consider, and can easily afford to take >long elliptical
paths in approaching my work.
>Like I said, I realize that I'm in a pretty cushy situation. I admire and
>envy working potters, but I knew from an early point that I didn't want
>to make my living from clay. Part of it is temperment. I'd make a terrible
>small businessman. In part, it is also that I have an established career in
>a profession I care about already. But mostly, I maintain my amateur
>status in order to protect pottery as a haven. It feels so important to
>me to have something that I love to do for its own sake.
>
>When I first started studying pottery, one of the other students was
>obviously very skilled already. SNIP____ She
>finished her order on time, closed her studio, and joined the family insurance
>business. It took her several years before she would work with clay again.
>She said, "Success was the worst thing that ever happened to me." From
>that point on, I've kept in mind that love of clay doesn't not have to be
>expressed through a career.
>
>-- Lee Jaffe
Dear Fellow Pro/Amateur Potters; I just loved Lee's story here. I've been
potting for 43 years now and find that for me the Real Trick is to make
just enough ware to get 'in a groove', without making so much I bore myself
or burn out. My favorite pots are made in an attentive, but only
'peripherally' focused way. When I work this way, life just seems to funnel
through me into the clay, through the fire, and onto the dinner table to
delight our guests. Sounds kind of woo-woo; but I'm telling it like it
is________for me on that 'eliptical path' here in Eugene, Hank
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